The Computational and Biological Vision Group, led by Hüseyin Boyacı and Katja Doerschner is part of Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center and National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), and operates jointly with the Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Graduate Program, Bilkent University. Research in the lab is focused on visual perception and its neuronal underpinnings. We use behavioral experimentation, neuroimaging (fMRI), and computational modeling to find answers to problems of vision science.
Here you can find out more about our projects.
Recent News!
New Projects
We have a new project supported by TUBITAK. The project is titled “Center-surround interaction in motion perception”. In this project we will investigate the details of center-surround interaction in motion perception, including the role of spatial attention.
In another project lead by Ozgur Mustecaplioglu (principal investigator) from Koc University, we will collaborate on quantum metrology using the human eye. The project is titled “Applications of Quantum Metrology with Human Eye”, and supported by TUBITAK.
New STAR Member
Asli Tekin, an undergraduate research assistant in CBVG, received a STAR fellowship from TUBITAK. She will work in the project “Neuronal Basis of Perceptual Learning”, which is supported by TUBITAK. Congratulations Asli!
Buse Merve Ürgen successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis!
Buse defended her thesis entitled “Behavioral and Computational Investigation of the Effect of Prior Knowledge on Visual Perception” on January 14, 2021. Please follow this link to see the abstract. We wish her the best of luck in her career!
New Publication
Schmid, Boyaci, & Doerschner, “Dynamic dot displays reveal material motion network in the human brain”
Using dynamic dot displays, we show that a large network of brain regions respond to material motion. The dynamic dot displays are similar to those in biological motion studies, and they allow researchers to isolate motion cues from all other cues to material properties (e.g. surface reflectance). Interestingly, the areas that are found to respond to material motion in this study constitute a superset of those found to respond to biological motion in previous studies.
New Publication
Urgen, Boyaci, “Unmet expectations delay sensory processes“
Prior knowledge and expectations play a substantial role in recognition and decision-making processes by governing the interpretation of the sensory stimulus and allowing us to make fast and accurate decisions. Whether and how early sensory processes are affected by expectations, however, has remained a controversial issue. Using a behavioral experiment and a recursive Bayesian model, Urgen & Boyaci (2021) investigated the effect of expectations on perceptual thresholds and unveiled the possible mechanisms that underlie the observed effects. Specifically, they showed that unlike what is suggested for higher-level mechanisms, valid expectations do not facilitate perceptual processes, instead, unmet expectations delay them. Their modeling findings revealed that the mechanism that underlies this delay is the need for further processing required by the system to complete the sensory process. Urgen & Boyaci (2021) also discussed possible neural mechanisms that can explain their findings within the predictive processing framework.
Dilara Erişen successfully defended her Master’s thesis!
Dilara defended her thesis entitled “Investigating the effects of perceptual learning on the function and microstructure of the visual cortex” on December 3, 2020. We wish her the best of luck for her PhD!
New Publication
Altan, Boyaci, “Size aftereffect is non-local”
Prolonged exposure to a certain size stimulus alters the perceived size of a subsequently presented stimulus at the same location. How the rest of the visual space is affected by this size adaptation, however, has not been systematically studied before. In this study, we tested size adaptation at the adapter location as well as the rest of the visual space. Our results showed that the perceived sizes of target stimuli were affected by the adapter, not only at the adapter location but also at other locations. These findings demonstrate that size adaptation causes widespread distortion of the visual space and alters perceived size. We discuss possible computational models that may underpin the perceptual effect in the article.
New Publication
Er, Pamir, Boyaci, “Distinct patterns of surround modulation in V1 and hMT+”, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117084
Using fMRI and a well-studied motion paradigm, in which sensitivity to direction of motion increases (decreases) for a low (high) contrast stimulus as its size gets bigger, Er et al. show that patterns of center-surround interaction are different in primary visual cortex (V1) and middle temporal complex (hMT+). Furthermore, we show that the divisive normalization model can successfully predict the responses in V1 and hMT+, and link the behavioral and fMRI data.
Recent preprints from CBVG!
CBVG has recently shared four preprints:
- Distinct patterns of surround modulation in V1 and hMT+
- Dynamic dot displays reveal material motion network in the human brain
- Assessing Topographic Structural Connectivity of the Human Basal Ganglia and Thalamus
- Size Aftereffect is non-local
Beyza Akkoyunlu successfully defended her Master’s thesis!
Beyza defended her thesis entitled “Functional changes in the human cortex over the course of visual perceptual learning” on March 20, 2020 at Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center. Please follow this link to see the abstract. We wish her good luck in her career!
Seminar: “Oscillatory Recurrent Gated Neural Integrator Circuits (ORGaNICs): A Unifying Theoretical Framework for Neural Dynamics” by David Heeger @ Bilkent!
Prof. Heeger recently gave a talk entitled “Oscillatory Recurrent Gated Neural Integrator Circuits (ORGaNICs): A Unifying Theoretical Framework for Neural Dynamics” at Bilkent as part of Neuroscience Seminar Series Fall 2019. Later, he gave another talk on his recent model at Dynamics in Vision and Touch (DyViTo) workshop held in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Please click here to see the talk announcement.
Six Master’s theses defended successfully!
Batuhan Erkat: Mapping Human Visual Cortex With Population Receptive Field Model: Tuning FMRI and Stimulus Parameters, and Exploring Receptive Field Sizes
Cemre Yilmaz: Effect of Visual Stimuli With Fearful Emotional Cue on Population Receptive Field Estimates
Ecem Altan: The Spatial Extent of Size Adaptation Effect in Peripheral Vision
Ilayda Nazli: The Effect of Orientation-Related Prior Probability Information on Contrast Perception
Cem Benar: Temporal and Spatial Nonlinearities in fMRI BOLD Response in Human Primary Visual Cortex
Hossein Mehrzadfar: Comparing the Performance of Humans and 3D-Convolutional Neural Networks in Material Perception Using Dynamic Cues
Congratulations Cemre, Batuhan, Ecem, Ilayda, Cem and Hossein for the fantastic job!
Save the dates! Six Master’s thesis dissertations in the first week of July, 2019
July 1: Cemre Yilmaz, Batuhan Erkat, Ecem Altan
July 2: Ilayda Nazli
July 4: Cem Benar, Hossein Mehrzadfar
Görkem Er successfully defended his Master’s thesis!
Gorkem defended his thesis entitled “The Role of Contrast and Size in Motion Perception: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Study of Center-Surround Interactions in Primary Visual Cortex (V1) and Middle Temporal Area (MT+) ” on September 13, 2018 at Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center. Please follow this link to see the abstract. We wish him good luck in his career!
Zahide Pamir successfully defended her PhD thesis!
Zahide defended her PhD thesis entitled “The Effect of Context-dependent Lightness on Contrast Detection and Identification, and Its Neural Correlates” on 19 October, 2017 at Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center. Please click here for the abstract. We wish her all the best and success in her future career!
CBVG was at ECVP 2017!
We as CBVG presented our work at ECVP 2017, Berlin. Please visit: http://vision.bilkent.edu.tr/publications/ for more information about our abstracts.